And He Laughed
by stabmysanity11
Summary: Sirius Black on October 31st, 1981. One-shot.


The rumble of the engine of Sirius' motorbike was almost as loud as the thunder clapping down all over England. He sat perched atop the monstrous machine, bored out of his mind and dripping wet, looking out at a small neighborhood, watching the little kids in monster masks run from door to door. Honestly, he didn't understand what the point of this holiday was for Muggles. Don't get him wrong, back when he was in Hogwarts, it was his favorite holiday. Delicious food, good friends, happy atmosphere... And look at him now. Sitting in the rain, forced to watch a neighborhood all night just in case Death Eaters decided to attack.

He didn't mind. Not really, anyway. It beat sitting at home alone wishing he could be hanging out with James and Harry. It was funny, how that little tyke had changed things. Instead of wreaking havoc on London, now Sirius' big thrill was surprising a one-year-old with a toy broom and watching him fly around with it. Ok, to be honest, the real fun in that was the disapproving look on Lily's face because she had to constantly follow him and make sure he didn't knock anything over.

'Yeah,' he thought, smirking. 'I think next time I'll buy him a mini bludger and bat.'

There was a loud 'pop' to his right and Sirius' wand hand, which had previously been leaning casually on the handlebars of his motorcycle, was immediately directed at the surprise intruder. "Stop right there," he said in a low growl, swinging his leg over the bike and edging toward the newcomer ever-so-slowly. "Sirius, mate, it's me," the faceless cloaked figure said, putting his hands up in defense. "Dedalus?" Sirius asked, frowning for a moment. Tightening his jaw, he said, "What prank did you try to pull on me and James in your second year?" Dedalus grinned at the memory as he pulled his hood down. "I tried to pull your pants down in front of everyone in retaliation for blowing up Lila Bloomsbury's skirt."

Sirius barked out a laugh, lowering his wand. "Well, that one backfired on you, didn't it?" he asked, smirking at Dedalus. Dedalus scowled and said, "They called me 'Drop 'Em Ded' for two years after that." "Yeah. Sorry 'bout that, mate," he apologized, shrugging. "So, what's up? I'm not due for a shift switch for another three hours." Rubbing the back of his neck, Dedalus said, "Dumbledore told me to relieve you now." Funny. Usually they were strict about keeping up with shifts.

Shrugging again, Sirius said, "Alright. Nothing's happened so far. Just a bunch of kids messing around." He walked back over to his bike, stored his wand in the detachable straps on the handlebar and kicked it to life. Revving the engine a few times, Sirius nodded at Dedalus before speeding off into the night. Now what was he supposed to do? He had planned on going straight to bed after his shift, but it was only 7:30... He thought, for a split second, about visiting Remus, but he dismissed that bitterly. Oh well. There was always Peter. It'd been a day since Sirius had checked in on James and Lily's Secret Keeper, and he was in the habit of making sure Peter was nice, safe and snug in his little hidey-hole.

It would've been a lot easier to do if Peter actually _was_ in his hiding place. When Sirius knocked on the door and no one answered, he figured the lazy wizard had just fallen asleep. Peter loved being able to take lots of naps now that he got to stay home all day. Sirius knocked harder, waited a beat, and then used _Alohomora_ to open the door, which, naturally, didn't work. His own spellwork had bested him. Cursing, Sirius yelled for Peter to wake up, tried to kick the door open (almost broke his foot trying), and even attempted to use _Bombarda_ to destroy the door.

Finally, after 10 minutes of trying to break down the door, Sirius ran outside, around the building and climbed up onto the fire escape outside Peter's only window to find the one room apartment completely empty. "Son of a-" Sirius cursed, jumping back down to the ground and running to his bike. Without checking to see if anyone was watching, he fired up the engine and rose into the air, flying straight to Godric's Hollow. He'd expected it, but he still wasn't prepared for the utter devastation. He landed haphazardly on the street in front of the Potter's ruined home and staggered over to the gigantic mass of half-giant that was Hagrid. Swallowing hard, Sirius reached out for Harry and said, "They're...James, he's – and Lily... they... ?" Hagrid nodded solemnly, tears trickling down his face.

"Dumbledore's told me ter bring little 'Arry to Little Whinging," he informed the younger man cradling said child in his arms. "But I'm his godfather," Sirius argued, frowning. "He's supposed to go to me." Hagrid shook his head. "Dumbledore's orders, Sirius. 'M sorry, lad." Hagrid put a crippling hand on Sirius' shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. "I – er, I need ter get 'Arry ter Dumbledore," Hagrid said, sniffling. "I'll be needing ter leave righ' away... take a long time ter get ter Little Whinging, yeh see..."

Sirius nodded, numb, and handed the small bundle of black hair back to Hagrid, pausing to take one last, long look at the baby's face, memorizing it – and the newly acquired scar on his tiny forehead. "Take my bike," Sirius offered, handing Hagrid the keys. "I won't be needing it anymore." Hagrid frowned, tucked Harry into the crook of his great arm gently, and said, "Are yeh sure? Sirius, yeh love yer bike..." Nodding, Sirius turned away and repeated, "I won't need it."

Sticking his hands in his pockets, Sirius clutched his wand tightly, waiting until he heard Hagrid fly away to set off on the mad search for the lying, cowardly bastard who'd killed his best friends. It took him a while to track Peter down, but in the end, he'd known where he'd be. Of course the rat would try to return to his hiding place. He had to make it look like he was innocent, didn't he?

"PETER!" Sirius bellowed, wand drawn at the other end of the street. The chubby 21-year-old froze a few feet away from him, cowering in fear. Slowly, Peter turned around and looked at Sirius. What happened next was all a blur. One moment Sirius was about to curse the daylights out of Peter, and the next, Peter was screaming about how it was _Sirius_ who had betrayed Lily and James to all the Muggles surrounding them. When Peter had finished screaming himself hoarse, he drew his wand, blasted half the street and all the Muggles into a huge crater, cut off his finger, transformed into a rat and scurried into the sewer before Sirius could even attempt to make sense of what had just happened.

He must've stood there, stunned, angry and hopelessly holding his wand out for only a minute before he was surrounded by Aurors and Ministry officials.

"Sirius Black, you're charged with the murder of Peter Pettigrew and twelve Muggles, performing the Avada Kedavra charm, performing magic in front of Muggles, direct association with You-Know-Who and his followers, the Death Eaters, and the second degree murder of Lily and James Potter," a Ministry official recited automatically as they confiscated his wand and put him in shackles. For what seemed like the first time, Sirius took in the devastation around him. The large, smoking crater, the single, bloody finger lying a few feet away from them, the horror-stricken faces of the Ministry officials as they began filing their reports.

And Sirius laughed. Laughed in desperation. Laughed without humor. Laughed so hard it hurt. He laughed because James was gone. He laughed because Harry was going to go live with Muggles. He laughed because he was to blame for it all. He laughed because _no one would ever understand_. Because Sirius had thought Remus was the spy. Because Peter had tricked them all and it was terribly, terribly funny.


End file.
